The Charmant Hotel

A Candy Factory Turned Boutique Hotel

The Charmant Hotel occupies a former candy factory in downtown La Crosse, Wisconsin, once home to Joseph B. Funke Candy Co., and takes its name from Charmant, the company's premium chocolate line, rather than inventing a fresh identity for the building. A renovation exceeding 30 million dollars converted the five story structure into a boutique hotel while keeping the building's industrial bones intact, a rarer approach in a region more accustomed to new construction than historic conversion.

Why It Works

We selected The Charmant for credentials that back up what the building itself suggests. A 2018 AIA Wisconsin Honor Award recognizes the quality of the restoration specifically, not just the hospitality that followed it, and a number two ranking among the top hotels in the United States on TripAdvisor confirms that the finished product delivers on the architecture's promise. The project also qualified for state and federal Historic Tax Credit programs, a sign that preservation authorities, not just hotel reviewers, judged the restoration a genuine success.

Why This Location

La Crosse sits on the Mississippi River in western Wisconsin, a smaller city that rewards a visitor willing to look past the interstate exits for something with real character. The Charmant's downtown position puts guests within walking distance of the river and the city's historic core, and the hotel itself functions as a reason to visit rather than simply a place to sleep between stops elsewhere in the Midwest. Winter brings cross country skiing and a quieter version of the same riverfront, while summer fills the bluffs above the city with hikers drawn to views over the Mississippi that few visitors associate with Wisconsin.

Fast Facts

• Price: €€€ to €€€€

• Vibe: Award winning adaptive reuse in a former candy factory

• Rooms: An intimate, boutique count across five stories

• Best For: Travelers who want a Midwest stay with genuine architectural history

• Our Favorite Thing About the Hotel: The fifth floor roof deck lounge

• Dining: On site restaurant built around French technique and regional ingredients

• Amenities: Roof deck lounge, main lobby bar, lower level meeting spaces

• Attractions: Downtown La Crosse, the Mississippi River, the historic Funke Candy building itself

A Restaurant Built on French Technique

Dining at The Charmant leans on regional new American cooking grounded in classic French technique, served both in the main dining room and at tables set along the sidewalk outside. Local sourcing keeps the menu tied to the surrounding region rather than importing a generic hotel restaurant formula, and the lower level meeting spaces and main lobby bar give the property enough range to handle a quiet dinner or a livelier evening without feeling like two different hotels.

A Rooftop With a View of a Smaller City

The fifth floor roof deck lounge gives The Charmant a vantage point over downtown La Crosse that few buildings nearby can match, a detail more associated with hotels in larger cities than with a property in a city of this size. It is the kind of amenity that elevates a stay beyond the comfortable rooms and the award winning renovation, giving guests a reason to linger after dinner rather than retreat straight to their room.

History Worth Preserving

The decision to keep the Funke Candy name alive in the hotel's own branding reflects a broader approach: this is a property that treats its past as an asset rather than a constraint to design around. Historic Tax Credit qualification at both the state and federal level required the restoration to meet preservation standards well beyond what a typical renovation demands, and the result is a hotel that reads as genuinely tied to La Crosse rather than a boutique concept that could have opened anywhere.